The T.A.D.
By Mamapranayama
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Prologue
Falling sure wasn't the hard part.
But the sudden stop at the bottom was a different story.
Looking up at the sky, his lungs still reeling from having all of the air forcibly stolen from them, he realized it was a really beautiful day, something he hadn't been paying much attention to before. The spring sun was shining warm rays down upon him and there wasn't a cloud to be seen in any direction. All he could see was blue. Even the light, sweet scent of blooming cherry blossoms floated on the breeze and grazed his cheeks tantalizingly.
But Tony didn't give a damn about that right at the moment.
He couldn't breathe.
“Tony!” Ziva's far-off voice called out from above, but he couldn't see her. To do so would have meant moving his body and lifting his head, which wasn't going to happen any time soon or ever again, he thought grimly.
Just as he thought he was going to suffocate before his lungs remembered how to function again, he took a deep breath in. For his effort, he was immediately rewarded with a sharp pain lancing across his chest and even though he could breath again, he wasn't sure he wanted to anymore.
Maybe suffocating would have been a more pleasant way to go, he mused.
It wasn't just his chest now that screamed in agony, but now that the initial shock of falling was wearing off, his whole body registered flames of torment with the majority of pain radiating from his right thigh. Drawn to the source of the injury, a shaky hand felt for his leg and encountered a sticky moistness that somewhere in his dazed mind registered as blood.
Lifting his hand to his face, he confirmed that it was indeed blood and regretted the decision to look at his fingers.
Flopping his hand back down, he noted with a detached sense of reality that the bright sky was morphing from a brilliant shade of blue to a splotchy gray with darkness rolling in quickly from the corners of his eyes, but he wasn't entirely certain that it was actually clouds causing the world to grown dimmer.
It was him that was fading.
As sky above paled, it became blocked out completely as a face came into what was left of his field of vision.
“Hold on, Tony. Stay with us.” It was Gibbs speaking and touching his shoulder, but he could barely hear him. He seemed so far away, but he was right in front of him. And was that concern, maybe even a hint of fear on the former Marine's normally stoic face?
This couldn't be good.
He had to be dying for that to happen.
“Sure would like to boss.” Tony was certain he said or at least that was what he was thinking he should say as the scene faded to black.
Chapter 1
Ziva was still unsure what had happened.
One moment she and Tony were clearing Lt. Anderson McGraw's apartment after he turned up missing and one of his colleagues was found murdered and the next, all hell had broken loose.
While Gibbs and McGee had gone off to question neighbors to see if they had seen the missing lieutenant, Tony and Ziva went to his apartment hoping just to find some clues to the Lieutenant's whereabouts.
“......You should have come, they only have the 'Bond-a-thon' every other year at the theatre downtown, last night was 'Doctor No', one of my favorites. It's the first Bond film with Sean Connery and the first time he says: 'Bond, James Bond'” Tony attempted his best Sean Connery impression and Ziva rolled her eyes.
“If Sean Connery could hear your impression of him, he would kick your ass from here to the end of this hall.”
“You're just jealous you can't get the Scottish brogue right. You gotta lower you voice a little like this” Tony demonstrated “and roll the 'r's off the tongue, like- oof!” Ziva elbowed him in the solar-plexis.
“Uncalled for-” he complained with a wheeze.
“So are your movie quotes and endless impersonations.” She quipped with a satisfied grin.
“Touche” He came back as they approached the apartment door. Ziva knocked twice and announced that they were federal agents with a warrant, but there was no answer.
Tony tried the door, but it was locked.
“I'll get the super with a key-”
Too late. Ziva already had the door open with her pick.
“You gotta show me how you do that so fast.”
“Secret Mossad technique. If I showed you, I would have to kill you.”
“Right.” He snorted sarcastically, but one deadly serious look from Ziva had him shutting up.
“Assassin's first.” He gestured for her to enter as they pulled their weapons out and walked into the apartment.
Not expecting anyone to be at home, but still erring on the side of caution Tony took off to the right after they cleared the living room, heading down the hallway towards the bedrooms while Ziva headed for the kitchen area.
Ziva called “Clear” entering the kitchen, finding no one. Expecting an echo of 'Clear' coming from across the apartment from Tony, she was surprised when she didn't hear anything.
“Tony?” She called out as she headed in the direction he had gone to.
Hearing scraping and grunting noises, Ziva realized rather belatedly that the were not the only ones in the apartment and whoever it was was now engaged in a full-on brawl with Tony. Running down the hall with her weapon drawn, she entered the furthest bedroom to find Tony and a rather large and muscular young man grappling with each other across the room. Having been caught by surprise, Tony had already lost his weapon as he was pushed against a wall. He fought back valiantly against the larger man, landing several punches against him, but it only served to enrage Tony's opponent further and fuel his already impressive strength with adrenaline.
“Stop!” Ziva shouted to Tony's assailant, “I will shoot!” but the man paid no attention to her and before she could reach the two, he pushed Tony out through the open sliding glass door and to the balcony floor on the other side.
Rather than try to subdue the man, since he was twice her size and it would take too long to get him off of Tony, she decided to employ her eagle-eye, sharp-shooter skills instead. Taking aim quickly, she fired off a round into the man's leg once Tony had managed to put a little space between the two of them. Normally, such a shot had stopping power, but rather than go down, he howled insanely and acted more like he just been stung by a annoying insect rather than being hit by a 9 mm slug. That's when he turned on Ziva.
Maintaining her weapon at his center mass, she ordered him to stop once more, but he continued his advance towards her. The pad of her finger slid over the cool metal of the trigger as she prepared to fire once again when Tony came up from the concrete of the balcony floor in one fluid motion and rammed himself full-force into the massive brute's chest.
He did little to stop the man's pursuit of Ziva, and only served to frustrate Ziva as she lost the shot, but Tony fought desperately to keep him away from his partner. Finally distracted enough by the smaller man's attack to forget about going after Ziva, he turned his full attention on dispatching Tony.
In the space of a heartbeat, things happened faster than it took for Ziva's brain to process what was happening. Tony had taken to nearly jumping on the man's back in order to bring him down, but the man backed up and pushed Tony against the wrought iron railing of the balcony.
Like watching a movie in slow motion, Ziva watched in shock and horror as the man turned in a flash with a growl and grabbed Tony's legs, flipping him up and over the railing. One second Tony was there and the net he was over the edge and gone.
“No!” Ziva yelled. On instinct, rather than in rational thinking, she fired twice, double tapping the large man in the heart, finally bringing him down to his knees before he fell forward onto his face. She didn't even bother to check if he was dead, she knew he was.
Running to the railing of the balcony, Ziva looked over the edge to the lawn three stories below.
“Tony!” She yelled. Tony lay on his back, he was still and Ziva thought the worst. She breathed a sigh of relief however, when he moved his hand, but the spot of blood beginning to spread across his pants leg had her in distress and she quickly fled the balcony and apartment, flying down the stairs back to the ground floor.
By the time she made it to the bottom and out the door, she saw Gibbs crouched beside Tony and barking orders to McGee to call for an ambulance. She dashed to Tony's side and joined Gibbs who was checking Tony's pulse.
“He's alive.” Gibbs announced. Tony was struggling to breathe even in his unconscious state. “McGee!” Gibbs called back behind him while the youngest agent was still on the phone with emergency services.
“Ambulance is on its way, Boss” He called back.
“First aid kit, McGee. Now!” Gibbs barked back and Tim ran to the Charger, opening the trunk and grabbing the first-aid kit stowed in there then ran back to Gibbs and Ziva.
Gibbs flung open the kit and ripped open a field dressing, handing it to Ziva.
“Put it on his leg and press, we got to stop that bleeding.” He ordered her. Ziva pressed the thick gauze pad against the wound in Tony's thigh. The feel of bone protruding through the skin made her slightly nauseated, but she held it back, now was not the time for her to lose her lunch.
Tony groaned and opened his eyes a slit.
“You with us?” Gibbs asked, but Tony didn't respond, only tried to roll his head from side to side, his lips drawn in a grimace, his pale face was devoid of all color as tears slipped freely from the corners of his eyes. Gibbs held both sides of Tony's head in an effort to keep him from moving and causing further injury.
“Hold still, Tony” Gibbs demanded of his injured agent and Tony stopped, even in his confused and pain-filled mind, he followed his boss' orders. Ziva couldn't recall seeing Tony so vulnerable before and she had to admit to herself that it frightened her a bit. She had seen combat and had nearly been blown-up before, but Tony being so un-Tony like was one of the scariest things she had ever seen.
“Hurts” He managed to grate out before he passed into oblivion once again.
“I'm sure it does.” Gibbs patted his shoulder. In the distance, Ziva heard the blessed sounds of ambulance wails approaching and she bowed her head in relief.
“McGee.” Gibbs turned to Tim, who seemed in a daze and at a loss as to what to do. “McGee!” Gibbs addressed him again with smack to the back of the head, snapping him out of his funk. “Go flag down the ambulance.”
“On it, boss.” McGee ran off and moments later they were surrounded by EMT's and Ziva was relieved of her duty to Tony's leg. Pushed to the side, she watched as they worked until she felt a pull on her arm. She turned and Gibbs practically dragged her to the corner of the yard, his face an unreadable mask, but she knew he was angry, she could feel it radiating off of him.
“What happened?” He asked.
“Tony and I entered the apartment when no one answered. Tony was caught by surprise.... He fought with a man I can only assume was Lt.McGraw, but he was very large and Tony was unable to get the upper hand....I tried to subdue him with a shot to the leg, but he would not stop. He came after me...Tony tried to stop him, but the other man was much stronger and.... pushed Tony over the edge.” Hearing the words tumble out of her mouth as she tried to explain what happened only seemed to add to the improbability of the situation. It was surreal, yet all too real at the same time. “After that, I shot the man.... He is dead.”
Gibbs' eyes penetrated into hers and she was unable to avoid their cool blue fire as he took in her version of events. He nodded when she explained that she had killed their assailant. If anyone could understand what it was like to kill another human being in the heat of the moment, it was Gibbs. Unsurprisingly, she felt no remorse for killing him, she knew there would have been no other way to stop him, but she still felt the effects if it reverberate through her system. He fingers still trembled from the adrenaline rush and she had to squeeze her fists tight to reign them in and bring herself back under control.
“Call Ducky and get him down here. You and McGee process the scene.” Gibbs looked behind him as the paramedics placed Tony onto a stretcher. “I want to know who that guy was and what made him attack Tony.”
“Yes, Gibbs.” She nodded distractedly.
“I'm going with Tony.” He informed her as he turned away and headed for the ambulance where Tony was being loaded. “Tell Ducky I'll call him.” He told Ziva just before the doors to the ambulance closed and they sped off.
Ziva could only watch as they departed and pray that Tony would be alright. Her partner may be a pain in the ass on his good days, but she had to admit that she couldn't imagine life without him around.
She revolved around when she felt, rather than saw McGee standing behind her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she accepted it, giving his hand a light pat. They both knew there was nothing else they could do from here on out except for their jobs and without a word they both headed back into the building to do just that.
TBC.....
The T.A.D. by Angie
Author's Chapter Notes:
Vance replaces Tony with a new TAD agent when he is injured on a case, but is the new agent too good to be true and will Tony ever get back on the team?